1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a differential of lightweight construction for motor vehicles having a differential housing made of two sheet metal shells, in which differential bevel gears are supported on driving pins fixed to the housing and mesh with axle bevel gears, and wherein a carrier shell having a drive gear fastened to the outer circumference thereof and a cover shell are fitted together along a common joint plane to form the differential housing.
2. Description of Related Art
In EP 0979959 B1 there is described a method for manufacturing motor vehicle differential mechanisms, wherein the differential housing is made of two housing parts, which are manufactured by cold forming from cut-to-size sheet metal sections and are subjected to mechanical finish machining before being permanently joined by welding.
For the purpose of drive transmission, a toothed gear disk is fastened to the outside of one of the housing parts. Both housing parts comprise bearing hubs for attaching the wheel axles; the bearing hubs are precision-machined at their circumference to receive axial ball bearings.
In the known differential housing, the two housing parts have relatively large wall thickness and a diameter that is further increased by the fact that two housing shells engage one in the other in the joint region. Because the driving pins are supported in the inner housing shell alone, the wall thickness thereof is considerable in order to ensure a sufficient seating face for the ends of the driving pin.
In contrast, the object of the present invention is to provide a differential of the type mentioned hereinabove, wherein the differential housing is particularly thin-walled and thus is of weight-saving construction; moreover, it is meant to be composed of structural components that can be dimensioned as a function of load, thus permitting easy adaptation to various load cases as in a modular system.